Warning: Will eventually contain mature material. Language. Lemons. Some spicy limes. Maybe full-blown things. ~_^

A Salvation Called Love

-Chapter 2-

Annabelle Amatheon is a strong girl. She's always had to be ever since her mother passed away when she was five. At twenty-four her dreams were coming true and she was in her senior year of college. She was bound and determined to make her father proud. He was the one putting her through college with his hard work, so she was going to work just as hard to repay him. But will she get the chance to make those dreams come true? Can she remain strong?

[Annabelle – The Following Day]

With a heavy sigh I finally stepped out of the dark music hall into the warm, bright sun. This semester was finally over and summer about to begin and I was now a senior. By the end of next year I was going to be graduating and moving on to the business world. I stretched and laughed as I ran across the lawn of the university towards the dorms. I had everything packed and stuffed in the car so all I had to do now was grab my fish tank, buckle it into the front seat of my Jeep and leave. I had a fifteen hour drive back up to New York from here. I knew Jacksonville, Florida was a long ways away from home, but the university here was just amazing.

I was just pulling out of the parking lot of the dorms when my phone rang. The ringtone was my father's. I quickly grabbed it from the cup-holder beside me and pushed the button to talk. "Hi, Papa! I'm on my way now."

"Baby, don't come back!" My dad sounded out of breath and I heard things being slammed around. "It's not safe right now and I won't be here."

I slammed on my breaks and pulled off to the side of the road. "What? What's going on, Papa?"

"I can't tell you right now, baby, but when I find a new house and its safe I'll call you and you can come."

"What are you talking about? Is someone after you, Papa?"

There was a loud sigh and I waited as I heard my dad sit down somewhere in the house. "Listen, baby-doll. I did some things that I'm not proud of in order for you to be where you are right now and it seems that those things are coming back to bite me in the backside. I just don't want you to get wrapped up in my problems. Stay down there with one of your friends. Please?"

I leaned forward and placed my forehead against the steering wheel. "I can't do that, Papa. I don't know what trouble you're in, but you can't run away from it. And you can't keep me away."

He sighed again. "Please, just listen to me this once."

I shook my head and straightened, checking the traffic before pulling back onto the road. "No. I'm coming. Don't do anything until I get there. It will take me about 15 hours and then we can decide on what to do about what you did. There has to be some way around all of this."

My dad was just about to respond when there was a lot of loud crashing and she listened as her father cursed and called out into the phone. "DON'T COME BACK!"

The phone clicked off and I stared out at the road in complete shock. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what was going on. I pulled off to the side of the road again and this time put my Jeep in park. I unbuckled my seat-belt and shifted around in my seat, dialing my dad's number. It started to ring and my heart started to race. "Come on, Papa. Pick up, pick up, pick up."

When no one picked up I dialed again and leaned back against my door, praying that he would pick up. It rang for a long time again and just when I thought no one would answer it clicked on. "You're very persistent, Dearie." A heavily accented voice spoke, sending shivers down my body.

I frowned at my phone. That wasn't my dad. "Who are you?"

There was a small bout of silence before the man gave a small chuckle. "If you want to find that out, I've left you a little note on your dining room table."

I gave a small growl. "Where's my dad? I want you to let him go or when I find you I'll make you hurt." I wasn't lying either. I'd taken quite a few martial arts classes and learned how to fight with knives. It had been something that caught my attention for a while. Now I wanted to put it to good use. "I won't give you another warning."

The man on the phone chuckled again. "Now, now, Dearie. That isn't a nice way to talk to the man who's got your father, now is it?" This time he laughed outright. It sounded evil and gleeful all at the same time.

"What do you want with him?"

There was a rustle of fabric over the phone and I heard some mumbling noises close by. "Ah. Well, Dearie, he ran from me. I want him to pay for stealing from me and then thinking he could escape. I'm not a very forgiving man, never have been."

I have a small sigh and slumped forward. "And this gives you the right to hurt him?"

"It gives me every right."

"What do you want? What can I give you so that you won't hurt him?"

The silence stretched for a little while again before he spoke lightly. "Nothing you could offer would help him. I'm a very rich man after all. I have the world at my fingertips."

"There has to be something."

The man stayed silent again and then there was a loud thunk and a muffled scream from my father. He spoke coldly into the phone this time. "The only thing that could have saved this man died a long, long time ago." The phone went dead seconds later and I felt tears burning at the corners of my eyes.

I dropped my phone and slammed the palms of my hands down against my steering wheel over and over again. "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I quickly straightened back into my seat and buckled myself in. I put my Jeep into drive and checked to make sure it was clear for me to get back onto the highway. I pushed the speed limit as I headed home, wanting to get there as fast as possible. I didn't want to leave my father at that man's mercy. He sounded evil and hateful. His words echoed back at me over and over again as I continued to drive. The only think that could have saved this man died a long, long time ago. "FUCK!"